Portable fabric steamer



Jan. 28, 1969 j I M. s. MITCHELL PORTABLE FABRIC STEAMER Sheet Filed March 31, 1967 IN VENTOR MAR GARET S. MITCHELL no'u'0'0l lntlu l lllllllllllllllllll II I ll ATTORNEY M. S. MITCHELL PORTABLE FABRIC STEAMER Jan. 28, 1969 Sheet Filed March 31, 1967 INVENTOR MARGARET SMIZHELL ATTORNEY n- 1969 I M. s. MIfCHELL 3,423,966

PORTABLE FABRIC STEAMER Filed March 31, 1967 Sheet 3 of :5

INVENTOR MARGARET 3 MIT ELL Wm" fiw hh ATTORNEY United States Patent 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portable fabric steaming apparatus having a shell packed with a porous heat resistant material which is adapted to absorb and entrap a volume of water, an electrical heating element enclosed within the shell or in thermal contact with part of its surface and so arranged that heat from the element will produce steam which can then escape outwardly through a series of holes in the shell where it can be used for steaming a fabric material. The steamer has a handle which constitutes an extension of the shell or can be doubled back and parallel to the shell to reduce the overall length of the device.

Backgr und of the invention This invention relates to a readily portable device for manually steaming fabric. A problem exists in providing a convenient, simple, effective and safe means, particularly away from home, for freshening and removing the wrinkles and creases in clothing. One solution has been to use an ordinary steam iron to steam out such wrinkles. The technique employed is to hold the iron as close to the fabric as possible without contacting it as it is inadvisable to exert any pressure on fine wools or silks. However, the steam iron itself is not conveniently portable nor storable in luggage nor is the more convenient travel iron suitable for steaming. Furthermore, such a procedure requires the additional and inconvenient necessity of setting up on ironing board. Thus, when away from home it is even more inconvenient to carry a steam iron or obtain the use of a steam iron and ironing board.

An invention which has apparently been directed to effectively provide a portable steaming apparatus to overcome the above difficulties and problems is embodied in the Fabric Steaming and Brushing Device shown in U. S. Patent No. 2,849,736 issued Sept. 2, 1958 to A. G. Koble. Such a device while apparently effective is rather complicate d, and costly, since a pump, separate water storage and boiler elements are required.

Summary of the inv ntion Accordingly, my invention is directed to a portable manually held steaming apparatus for fabrics having a handle, a shell attached to the handle with a series of orifices on one face thereof, an internal chamber containing a heat resistant porous material for absorbing and entrapping a substantial amount of water, and an electrical heating element for water to produce steam thereby. The steam is emitted from the steaming apparatus through the series of orifices onto the fabric freshening them and removing wrinkles.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a portable apparatus for manually steaming fabrics.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a convenient, simple and effective apparatus for steaming the creases and wrinkles out of garments and fabrics.

Description of the drawings Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and embodiments of this invention as shown in the drawings wherein:

3,423,966 Patented Jan. 28, 1969 ice FIGURE 1 is a cut-away view of one formof this invention;

FIGURE 2 is another cut-away view of a modification of the apparatus of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cut-away view of another form of this invention having a pair of concentric shells and a simple pressure valve;

FIGURE 4 is a view of another and simple form of this invention utilizing only one shell; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 4.

Description of the pr ferred embodiments Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawings wherein an embodiment of a fabric steaming device according to my invention is shown in cut-away view. The fabric steam device has a longitudinally extending shell 12 mounted axially alongside a larger water heater 14. The steam shell 12 is formed by a cylindrical wall 18 of substantially circular cross-section having a surface 20' contacting and attached permanently as by soldering, brazing or welding to the water heater 14 at its outside surface 16. Additional-ly, the shell 12 has an integral end cap 22 for sealing one end and a valve and cap assembly 24 at the other end thus forming a chamber 26. Passing through the cylindrical wall 18 are a series of orifices 28 having a diameter suffi ciently small to cause steam discharging through the orifices to impinge upon a fabric placed one or two inches away from the orifices 28 and which are also large enough to prevent clogging by small solid particles either present in the steam or resulting from scale formed in the chamber 26. The size and shape of the orifices may be between & inch and inch and may be of uniform cross section or flared towards the outside depending on the thickness of the shell wall 18.

The water heater 14 comprises a hollow cylinder 30 slightly longer than the steam shell 12 and about 3 to 4 times the steam shells diameter and having a filler cap assembly 32 enclosing one end of the cylinder 30 adjacent the integral end cap 22 of the steam shell 12 and a handle and end cap assembly 34 closing the other end of the cylinder 30. An electrical heater assembly 36 is mounted coaxially and supported within the cylinder 30 by a tube 38 made of metal and totally closed at the filler cap assembly end by a wall 40. The tube 38 at its other end has an external flange 42, the edge 43 of which is attached permanently to the internal wall of the cylinder 30 as by soldering or brazing to form an annular cavity 44 for water. The tube 38 is supported at its closed end by a circular perforated disc 47.

Within the annular cavity 44 a mass of a porous heat resistant material 46 able to entrap a substantial amount of water is packed. The porous material 46 performs the functions of absorbing water so as to evenly entrap the water within the cavity 44 thereby insuring that the water is evenly heated. Additionally, the same porous material 46 is packed into the steam chamber 26 to prevent any water resulting from condensation of the steam from escaping through the orifices. Examples of suitable porous heat resistant materials are glass wool, asbestos fiber, clay and various porous ceramics. Glass wool is the preferred material because of its availability and effectiveness and its resistance to heat and corrosion.

The filler cap assembly 32 comprises a circular end plate 50 having a radial flange 52 with an outside diameter equal to or slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the cylinder 30 so as to form a tight fit therewith which may be additionally soldered, brazed or welded to form a pressure and leak resistant joint. The plate 50 has on its opposite face a second thicker radial flange 54 the inside surface of which is threaded so as to form an internally threaded circular passage 56 through the plate 50. An

externally threaded removable cap 58 is shown closing the passage 56. The cap 58 is removed to allow the user to fill the tubular shaped cavity 44 with water and afterwards close it.

An electrical resistance heater element 60 is mounted in thermal contact with the inside of the tube 38 and is connected by electrical conductors 62 to a temperature limiting device such as a Spencer disc differential temperature switch 64 which is in turn connected to electrical power conductors 66 passing through the handle and end cap assembly 34 to a source of power.

The handle and end cap assembly 34 comprises a flanged annular end cap 68 with an external face 70 abutting the internal surface of the cylinder 30 and an internal face 72 attached to a hollow rod 74 passing through the annular end cap 68 and extending to a plastic insulated heat resistant handle 76 securely attached to the rod 74.

A port 78 passes through the wall 18 and the cylinder 30 at a point adjacent the valve and end cap assembly 24. The valve and end cap assembly comprises a one way pressure differential valve 80 of simple design having a spring biased ball valve 82 opposed to a passage 84 communicating with the port 78 so that steam having a preset pressure will cause the valve 82 to open allowing steam to enter the chamber 26.

In operation the steaming apparatus is filled with approximately O.1 lb. of water through the passage 56 which is then closed by cap 58. Electrical power in the amount of about 500 watts is applied through conductors 66 to the electrical heating assembly heating the water entrapped in the glass wool porous material 46 and generating about 2.5 cubic feet of steam in 4 minutes. The temperature is maintained by the thermostat below a certain preset limiting point such as 250 F. to prevent overheating and obtain the desired steam pressure. It is desirable that the electrical heating assembly be of as little mass as possible in order to limit the thermal inertia or heat up time of the unit. Steam generated by the heating assembly will build up sufficient pressure set preferably in the range of from p.s.i.g. to 25 p.s.i.g. to open the one way preset pressure differential valve 80 and continually pass into chamber 26 where it is discharged through the orifices 28 onto the surface of a garment thereby steaming the fabric and removing wrinkles and creases.

With reference to the drawing of FIGURE 2, a different version of the invention as shown in FIGURE 1 is shown utilizing a Fenwald type temperature limiting switch 86 in place of the Spencer disc and mounted coaxially in the electrical heater assembly 36.

Another and simpler embodiment of my invention is shown in FIGURE 3 of the drawings wherein an electrical resistance heater 90 is mounted within a tubular boiler 92. The tubular boiler 92 is internally threaded at its filling end 94 so that an externally threaded filler cap 96 can be removably mounted thereto. The filler cap 96 has a wide flange head 98 made of elastic high temperature material such as melamime, nylon or hard rubber. The other end of the tubular boiler 92 has a wall plate 100 completely sealing the tubular boiler 92. In the wall plate 100 a pair of electrical leads 102 are mounted so as to pass through the wall plate 100 yet provide adequate insulation and sealing. Such a result may be obtained by using a ceramic plastic or glass sealing material around the leads 102, or make the wall plate 100 of plastic. The electrical leads 102 are connected at one end to the electrical resistance heater 90 and at the other end to a pair of electrical power conductors 104 which pass through a handle 106 attached at one end to the wall plate 100.

Within the tubular boiler 92 porous heat resistant material 46 such as heretofore described is packed so as to absorb and hold a substantial amount of water. A port 108 is located in the radial wall of the boiler 92. Additionally, adjacent the port 108 on the outside of the boiler 92, a flat spring 110 is attached at one end to the outside surface of the boiler, while a semi-circular valve 112 is fixed to the other end of the spring adjacent the port 108 so as to be held by the spring 110 against the port 108 thereby acting as a simple one-way differential pressure valve.

A second larger outer tube 114 is mounted coaxially with the tubular boiler and is fixedly mounted to the outside edge of the wall plate 100 thereby forming the steam chamber 26. A series of orifices 28 are located on one face 116 of the outer tube 114 for emitting steam. Operation of this embodiment is similar to that of FIG- URE 1, described above.

A simple, yet effective embodiment of my invention is shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 of the drawings where a compartment 120 serves as the water heater and steam chamber. The compartment 120 is formed by a tube 122 having a semi-circular cross section and sealing walls 124 and 126 at each end of the tube 122. A series of orifices 28 are located on the semi-circular face of the tube 122 and a flat electrical heating assembly 128 in fixedly mounted in contact with the outside flattened face of the same tube 122. The flat electrical heating assembly 128 comprises a ribbon wound mica-insulated strip heater 130, insulation 132, such as alternate aluminum foil and glass cloth covering and a solid molded plastic cover 134 in the shape of a shallow rectangular pan, the sides of which are in close contact with the outside of the tube 122 thereby completely enclosing the fiat electrical heater assembly 128.

The compartment 120 is packed with the porous heat resistant material 46 described above thereby being capable of absorbing a substantial amount of water and preventing the water from leaking out through the orifices 28. Also within the compartment 120 a thermostatic electrical switch 136 is fixedly mounted to the end wall 126 of the tube and has electrical conductors 138 and electrical power leads 140 extending from it and passing through the wall 126. The electrical conductors 138 are attached to the mica-insulated strip heater while the power leads extend to an electrical power source which is not shown.

Attached to the outside surface of the end wall 126 is a handle 142. The handle 142 is in the shape of an L, where the bottom leg 143 of the handle is attached to the end wall 126 by a pair of bolts 144 extending through holes 146 in the bottom leg 143.

An arm 148 of the handle 142 equivalent to the vertical portion of the L extends parallel to the tube 122 at a distance of about 1% to 2 /2 inches, and is shaped somewhat flat in the plane parallel to the tube 122 enabling one to place the steamer on a flat surface with the orifices 28 extending upwards. This would allow the user to steam fabrics while holding only the fabric over the orifices 28. Additionally, the user may hang the apparatus of FIG- URE 4 over the edge of a vertical structure such as a door. The shape of the handle 142 while a matter of choice also provides an effective and advantageous saving in space by reducing the overall length of the steaming apparatus according to this embodiment.

In operation the fabric steamer shown in FIGURE 4 is dipped into a glass or other container of water to fill the compartment 120 with approximately 0.2 lb. of water which is absorbed and soaked up by the porous material 46. The steamer is then removed from the water and connected to a source of electrical power, or alternatively may even be stored, as the porous material will prevent any leakage of water through the orifices 28. Upon application of electrical power to the strip heater 130, gencrating about 500 watts, the heater will rapidly heat up, and simultaneously heat the water in compartment 120 developing steam approximately 5 cubic feet of which will discharge through the orifices and direct jets of steam onto the fabric.

Therefore, h g fully described my invention and 1. An apparatus for steaming fabric materials comprising:

a longitudinally extending shell, said shell having a semicircular face and plurality of orifices longitudinally placed on said semicircular face, said orifices being sufiiciently large to allow water to pass therethrough into the shell;

a porous heat resistant material located within the shell and able to absorb a substantial amount of water;

a handle attached to said shell said handle comprising a leg attached to one end of the shell and having an axis perpendicular to the axis of the shell, and an arm extending from the other end of the leg and having an axis perpendicular to the leg and parallel to the shell;

a flat electrical heating element contacting on one side of the heating element, the outside flattened face of the shell;

insulation on the other side of the flat heating element;

electrical conducting means for supplying electrical power to the fiat electrical heating element; and

a temperature responsive electrical switching means mounted within the shell for interrupting electrical current between the electrical conducting means and the electrical heating element at a preset temperature.

2. An apparatus for steaming fabric materials comprising:

a longitudinally extending shell having a plurality of orifices longitudinally placed in one side of the shell;

a handle attached to the shell for manually holding the apparatus;

a porous heat resistant material located within the shell and able to absorb a substantial amount of water;

a water heater axially coextending with the longitudinally extending shell, having a porous heat resistant material enclosed within the water heater and a heating means mounted within the water heater and thermally contacting the porous heat resistant material in the heater, whereby the water absorbed by such porous material is turned into steam; and

a pressure sensitive one way fluid valve communicating between the water heater and the porous material within the shell to allow steam at a preset pressure to pass from the water heater to the shell and be emitted through the plurality of orifices.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the water heater is fixedly mounted axially alongside the shell, the water heater additionally comprising:

a hollow cylinder having a port communicating between the interior of the cylinder and the shell;

a circular end plate attached to an end of the cylinder, the end plate having an internally threaded circular passage communicating with the interior of the cylinder and an externally threaded cap removably mounted within the circular passage;

2. flanged annular end cap attached to the other end of the cylinder and to the handle, the handle additionally comprising a hollow rod attached to one end of the annular end cap and a plastic heat resistant grip securely attached to the other end of the rod.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the heating means comprises an electrical heating element; an electrical conducting means for supplying electrical current to the electrical heating resistance element, and a thermostatically responsive electrical switching means between the electrical heating element and the electrical conducting means responsive to the temperature of the heating element whereby the temperature of the heating element is limited thereby limiting the steam temperature.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the water heater comprises:

a cylindrical second shell mounted coaxially within the first longitudinally extending shell, and having an internally threaded surface;

an electrical heating means mounted within the cylindrical second shell; and

an externally threaded cap removably threaded in the second shell, whereby the cap may be removed to fill the second shell with water.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the pressure sensitive one way fluid valve comprises:

a flat spring fixedly attached at one end to the cylindrical second shell on the outside wall thereof;

a passage in the second shell adjacent the other end of the fiat spring;

a hemi-spherical body slightly larger than the passage, attached to the other end of the flat spring and axially aligned with the passage so that the spring provides a bias holding the body against the sides of the passage.

7. An apparatus for steaming fabric materials comprising:

a longitudinally extending shell having a plurality of orifices longitudinally placed in one side of the shell;

a handle attached to said shell for manually holding the apparatus;

a water heater axially coextending in said longitudinally extending shell, to form a space in the interior of the shell between the water heater and at least a portion of the shell, said space being in fluid communication with said orifices, said water heater having a porous heat resistant material able to absorb a substantial amount of water enclosed therein;

a heating means mounted within said water heater thermally contacting said porous heat resistant material, whereby the water absorbed by such porous material is turned into steam; and

a pressure sensitive one-way valve communicating between the water heater and the interior of said shell to allow steam at a preset pressure to pass from the water heater to said space and be emitted through the plurality of orifices.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

